2030 Tourism Strategy Looks Positive for Business Events

NEW NAME, NEW MINDSET

MEA's Industry Leaders event held at the ICC Sydney on November 28 heard welcomed news that the new industry strategy looks like ditching the word 'tourism' and moving to the term 'visitor economy'. Business Events makes a strong case for inreased prominence in this realignment. 

Under the guidance of Austrade, which is where the tourism industry now sits in federal government, the audience heard there is a change in nomenclature in the wind; from the familiar title tourism to the broader term visitor economy which embraces not just tourists but all types of visitors to and within Australia. 

Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) Deputy Chair, Geoff Donaghy, reminded the attendees that the BECA not only introduced the term Business Events which has a growing internation uptake, it also argued to move 'beyond tourism' to more correctly encompass the whole visitor economy. 

Unsurprisingly, BECA supports the proposed change to visitor exonomy as do all the Australian states and territories governments most of which have already taken up its usage. 

While some may respond 'what's in a name?', in this case the terminology is important especially to the business events industry which will benefit from this shift in focus. 

Austrade reaffirmed the importance of the visitor economy to Australia, as one of the country's fastest growing sectors, with a growth rate of 5.8% in 2018. What everyone is looking for are the strategic ingredients for the sustainability of the sector, with an emphasis on boosting yield and dispersal. 

The industry already knows so well the high-yield attractiveness of the business events sector, but it was heartening to see this so readily acknowledged by Austrade's Lynne Ashpole who is leading the 2030 Strategy on behalf of government. 

To read the full article in the December issue of MEA Matters, click here.